NanoMechanics Lab

The new NanoMechanics Lab™ enables quantifiable nanoscale characterization extending from soft sticky hydrogels and composites to stiff metals and ceramics, allowing correlation to traceable measurements with nanoindentation. A full set of advanced modes delivers precise force and frequency control for the most complete nanomechanics materials research, from sub-nanometer resolution investigations to highest-volume AFM measurements and data analyses.

With thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers and thousands of QC measurements per day in factories around the world, Bruker’s legacy of nanomechanical characterization solutions has been leading the world since our initial innovations in contact and tapping AFM technology in the 90s.

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Today, Bruker's NanoMechanics Lab encompasses the full evolution of nanoscale AFM measurement techniques, including the well-established Force Volume and PeakForce QNM modes, as well as the new FASTForce Volume and FASTForce Volume Contact Resonance. Offering the most flexible force spectroscopy available, these modes can be combined to deliver huge data cubes, rendering a full array of elastic and viscoelastic data with great precision and repeatability ─ all in a single AFM system.

Calibrated Nanomechanics

The advent of Bruker exclusive probe manufacturing methods allows us to calibrate every AFM probe for spring constant and control tip shape and radius to rendering consistent high accuracy results. The new PeakForce QNM-HA product features new and easy to follow calibration steps along with expanded software capabilities in modeling and analysis to accommodate a wide variety of samples. Consistent, convenient, calibrated measurements.

Exclusive Nanoscale Mechanical Measurement Modes

PeakForce QNM

A vastly improved PeakForce QNM introduces a simple workflow to quantitatively characterize nanomechanical properties—including modulus, adhesion, dissipation, and deformation—while simultaneously imaging sample topography at atomic scale resolution. It is non-destructive to both tip and sample since it directly controls the peak normal force and minimizes the lateral force on the probe. PeakForce QNM enables routine quantifiable mechanical investigation of materials in the 1 kPa to 100 GPa range.

Contact resonance is a powerful tool for nanomechanical measurements due to its ability to measure a wide range of moduli, including both elastic and viscoelastic properties. However, until now, the implementation of contact resonance has been hampered by slow imaging speed, complex analysis, and the requirement of specialized hardware for full spectrum acquisition.

FASTForce Volume CR resolves these limitations by combining resonant and non-resonant modes to obtain the most accurate mechanical data for stiff materials in the range of <1 GPa to >300 GPa. This enhanced capability is combined with the flexible, easy-to-use software of the widely-adopted FASTForce Volume platform. In contrast to other imaging-based contact resonance methods that are essentially contact mode, FASTForce Volume CR minimizes lateral forces on the tip to reduce sample damage, tip wear, and to generate many measurements from one probe.